Republican rallying cry holds no fear for monarchists

Wayne Swan and Malcolm Turnbull today launched a new book to try to reinvigorate the Australian republican movement. But even they acknowledge the cause is in a weak position. Australians for Constitutional Monarchy admit they currently hold no fears that the Queen will be removed as Australia's head of state.

Transcript

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ASHLEY HALL: Two of Federal Parliament's heaviest hitters put aside their political differences today to fly the flag for the Australian republican movement. But the urgings of Treasurer Wayne Swan and Opposition frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull haven't exactly tapped into a groundswell of support for change.

Simon Frazer reports.

SIMON FRAZER: Wayne Swan and Malcolm Turnbull crossed the political divide today to launch a new collection of essays on why Australia should become a republic. But even they seemed to know the book's not destined for the bestsellers list.

WAYNE SWAN: I think it's always a time to talk about the merits of having an Australian head of state.

MALCOLM TURNBULL: There's got to be the sense that this is an issue of the hour. And it isn't an issue of the hour for determination, at least for most Australians, today. There's no point having another referendum that's going to be lost.

SIMON FRAZER: It's a far cry from the media coverage and public interest when Mr Turnbull led the republican movement's bid for change in 1999. Australians voted decisively against change in that referendum and the republican movement hasn't recovered since.

Fourteen years on, the head of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy, David Flint, admits he has little reason to feel threatened.

DAVID FLINT: We haven't got tens of thousands of supporters out there in the electorate getting ready because there isn't any distinct threat on the horizon.

SIMON FRAZER: Professor Flint says opinion polls since show support for a republic has fallen rather than grown, and he's even more encouraged by the attitude of young people on the issue.

DAVID FLINT: The record is there've been nine attempts to have referendums on the same subject more than once, and every one of them have failed. I think Australians, having once made up their mind, don't want to revisit the subject.

SIMON FRAZER: Glenn Patmore *(see editor's note) is a law lecturer and a republican who's written on the subject.

GLENN PATMORE: I think it's not a question of whether they care about it, but to what extent they're engaged by it. And I don't think they're engaged by the republic issue at the moment because our political leaders haven't put it on the public agenda. If the Prime Minister was to say we will hold a referendum on a republic I think many, many people would be engaged in it.

SIMON FRAZER: The last time we had obviously a vote on this was when we had a monarchist as prime minister; how much difference does that make?

GLENN PATMORE: I think that makes a lot of difference. People take their cues from political leaders.

SIMON FRAZER: On that basis Tony Abbott's strong support for the monarchy, and position in the opinion polls, would make a republic an even more remote possibility.

Professor Flint isn't so sure.

DAVID FLINT: I'm not persuaded that the personality of the prime minister or the leader of the opposition determines referendums. I think Australians are too canny for that. They're very careful in referendums.

ASHLEY HALL: David Flint from Australian for Constitutional Monarchy ending that report from Simon Frazer.

EDITOR'S NOTE: (1 November 2013): The original script and audio for this story incorrectly named University of Melbourne law lecturer Glenn Patmore as Peter Patmore. Mr Patmore also disagreed with a characterisation of his views in the original story. This reference has been removed from this transcript.